Strawberry Picking Tips, Facts and Recipes (2024)

Strawberry Picking Tips, Facts and Recipes

In the U.S. strawberries typically peak during April in Florida and Texas,May in the deep South, and in early June in middle sections and later June in thefar North and Canada. Keep in mind that crops are ready at various times of themonth depending on which part of the state you are located. In order to producegood local strawberries, producers depend on ideal spring weather conditions.

Strawberry Recipes, Canning and Freezing Strawberries

• How to freezestrawberries!
• Strawberry jam (with pectin)(uses less sugar or honey and less cooking)
• Strawberry jam(without pectin) (requires much more sugar and cooking)
• Strawberry (and other berry) jamswithout sugar
• Strawberry jelly
• Strawberry-rhubarbjam!
• Homemade strawberry ice cream (regular, low fat, nonfat, low sugar,vanilla and even gelato)
• Canning strawberries
• Make gourmet chocolate-covered strawberries
• How to make fruit juice- strawberry and otherberries
• Strawberry pie filling
• Strawberry pie
• Easy Rhubarb-Strawberrypie
• Fig-strawberry jam
• Fig-strawberry jam,made with Jello gelatin

Strawberry Facts, Measurements and Tips

• Picking the best strawberries:Select firm, fully red berries. Strawberries DO NOT continue ripen afterthey are picked! In the photo, only the berry on the far right iscompletely ripe.
• Strawberry festivals: Most areas that grow strawberries have a strawberry festival, at which youcan taste all kinds of fresh strawberry foods, pies, jams, cakes - and mostcommonly, fresh strawberry shortcake. To find out where and when thereis one near you, see thispage for a list of strawberry festivals, sorted by state!
• Strawberries measurements: government agriculturewebsites tell us that
  1 quart = 2 pints = 4 cups and is about thesame as 1 liter and
  1 quart of fresh strawberries weighs 1 lbs to 1.25 lbs (or450 to 600 g).Of course, the weightvaries on variety and weather conditions.
  1 quart is normallyenough for 4servings, although I'll admit my son can eat 1 pint by himself!
• How much to pick? In general, 1 quart of fresh, whole, just-picked strawberries =approximately 3.5 cups hulled, whole berries. In other words, removingthe caps/hulls and the occasional mushy berry means you lose 1/4 cup to 1/2 (it depends how much fruit you remove with the hull) orabout 7 to 12% of every quart you pick.
• One cup of strawberries contains only about 50 calories
• U-pick strawberries are much healthier than store-bought. Consumerreports says store bought strawberries have so many pesticide and fungicideresidues on they, that they don't recommend you eat them at all!
• U-pick strawberry farms typically sell berries by thepound. 1 lbs of fresh strawberries is about 2/3 of a quart.
• It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to pick a quart, if the berriesare reasonably plentiful
• The strawberry plant adapts to wide variety of soil conditions, but doesnot tolerate drought well, and the berries quickly rot if the weather israiny. For this reason, the plants are usually grown on raised beds throughplastic mulch!
• Cultivation of strawberries began in Europe in the 1300's, but the berryonly became very popular in the early 1900's in California.
• Do the math and be careful not to over-purchaseas strawberries quickly mold when left at room temperature, and only last acouple of days in the refrigerator.
• You can easily freeze berries that you cannot use right away - justwash, cut the hulls off and pop them into a ziplock bag, removing as muchair as possible. Those vacuum food sealers REALLY do a good job ofthis! The berries will keep for many months frozen without air.
• Want to grow your own strawberries? Here's an article about howto: Strawberriesare an Excellent Fruit for the Home Garden, HYG-1424-98!
• See this page for many more fun and interestingstrawberry facts, nutritional information and trivia

Before you leave to go to the farm:

1. Always call before you go to the farm - strawberries are affected by weather(both rain and cooler temperature) more than most crops. And when they arein season, a large turnout can pick a field clean before noon, so CALLfirst!
2. Leaveearly. On weekends, then fields may be picked clean by NOON!
   
3. Most growers furnish picking containers designedfor strawberries, but they may charge you for them; be sure to call before you go to see if you need to bringcontainers.

   If you use your own containers, remember that heapingstrawberries more than 5 inches deep will bruise the lower berries.Plasticdishpans, metal oven pans with 3 inch tall sides and large pots make goodcontainers. I like the Glad storage containers like the one at right.

4. Bring something to drink and a few snacks; you'd be surprised how you canwork up a thirst and appetite! And don't forget hats and sunscreen for thesun. Bugs usually aren't a problem, but some deet might be good to bringalong if it has been rainy.

Tips on How to Pick Strawberries

1. Grasp the stem just above the berry between theforefinger and the thumbnail and pull with a slight twisting motion.
2. With the stem broken about one-half inch fromthe berry, allow it to roll into the palm of your hand.
3. Repeat these operations using both hands untileach holds 3 or 4 berries.
4. Carefully place - don't throw - the fruit intoyour containers. Repeat the picking process with both hands.
5. Don't overfill your containers or try to packthe berries down.

General Picking Tips

Whether you pick strawberries from your garden or ata Pick-Your-Own farm, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1. Be careful that your feet and knees do notdamage plants or fruit in or along the edge of the row.
   
2. Pick only the berries that are fully red. Partthe leaves with your hands to look for hidden berries ready for harvest.
   
3. To help the farmers, also remove from the plantsberries showing rot, sunburn, insect injury or other defects and place thembetween the rows behind you. If they are left in the plants, the rot willquickly spread to other berries.
   
4. Berries to be used immediately may be picked anytime, but if you plan to hold the fruit for a few days, try to pick in theearly morning or on cool, cloudy days. Berries picked during the heat of theday become soft, are easily bruised and will not keep well.
   
5. Avoid placing the picked berries in the sunshine anylonger than necessary. It is better to put them in the shade of a tree orshed than in the car trunk or on the car seat. Cool them as soon as possibleafter picking. Strawberries may be kept fresh in the refrigerator for two or three, depending upon the initial quality of the berry. After a fewdays in storage, however, the fruit loses its bright color and fresh flavorand tends to shrivel.
   
6. For interesting and fun strawberry facts andtrivia from the California Strawberry Commission,clickhere!

When you get home

1. DON'T wash the berries until you are ready to use them. Washingmakes them more prone to spoiling.
2. Pour them out into shallow pans and remove any mushed, soft or rottingberries
3. Put a couple of days supply into the fridge, wash and cut the caps(green tops) off the others and freeze them up! (Unless you're going to makejam right away) See thispage about how to freeze strawberries.
4. If you like the strawberries you picked, ask the farm what variety theyplanted, and not the weather conditions the week or two before. The flavorof a strawberry is affected by the variety, the weather and the degree ofripeness when picked.
5. Now, get ready to make strawberry jam. It is VERY easy - especiallywith our free strawberry jaminstructions - they're illustrated and easy.

Other weird strawberry facts

• Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside.
• Strawberries were originally called strewberries because the fruit was'strewn' amongst the leaves of the plant.
• California is king of strawberry productions because: Californiaproduces 75 percent of the nation's strawberry crops; one billion poundsof strawberries each year. If all the strawberries produced inCalifornia in one year were laid berry to berry, they would go aroundthe world 15 times. Each acre of land in California in strawberryproduction produces an average of 21 tons of strawberries annually, witha total of 23,000 acres of strawberries planted in California each year.

More conversions

1 pint (2 cups) of fresh whole strawberries

• = about 8 oz (1/2 lb) of strawberries
• = 2.25 cups of sliced strawberries
• = 1cup pureed strawberries
• = 12-14 large strawberries

2 quarts of fresh strawberries are needed for a 9" pie

A 10 oz package of frozen berries is about the same as 1 cup of slicedfresh strawberries

References:

• University of Illinois Extension
• Driscolls
• OhioState University Extension
• Strawberries-Average retail price per pound and per cup equivalent